Posted:1st May 2005My Niece came up with the idea of having a very very wide skirt that has velcro all the way around the hem. You then put velcro all around the top of the walls of your room and stick the skirt up to it. You thus end up with a funnel that brings the ball back to your waist everytime you drop it...... Maybe not so workable unless you own one of those games parachute..... hmmm I didn't explaint that very well......

Lesson 1: The pain that comes from dropping a small acrylic ball on your ankle bone is perhaps one of the most excruciating pains you can experience (as a female). It is almost a unique and pure pain that makes you catch your breath.

I Cannot agree more.The way i sit allways when practising allways seems to float the ball towards my ankle bone when i drop it.

Hmmm. interesting idea... does it not bounce or roll over the hoop? Mine often bounces off a body part before it makes it's escape.

its a big hula hoop not one of those kiddies ones so it normally manages to stop the ball. It means i can get to the ball before the dog does! If only i could teach her to diferentiate between a crappy dog ball and a much more expensive juggling ball!

Posted:4th May 2005Thought I'd try and post a move I got shown at Clapham:

put your right thumb on the right side of the ball, and left hand index and midddle on the left side of the ball. Thumb goes from side to back of ball (i.e closer to you) and middle and index go to front of ball. The motion should be one of moving your hands together and then away from each other. Then have your right index and middle and left thumb in very light contact at the same time, mirroring what your other fingers are doing with the ball, making it look like you are squeezing the sides.

I hope that was understandable but this move is quite simple to learn, but difficult to master, and has a relatively low drop rate, and looks really cool, so would be good for people learning.

Very pretty Isolations. The way I learn't was: hold the ball between fingers of you r right hand, and thumb of your left. Push hands together. Swap fingers and thumbs (IE right hand fingers become right thumb, left thumb becomes left fingers), pull hands apart. Practise getting it smoother.

There are a few different ways to do this move, such as instead of going in/out with your hands, go up/down. add in those 'cigar box type isolations that you described earlier. invert one hand so that instead of holding the ball between finger/thumb, you're holding it between thumb/thumb or finger/finger. Change the position of the ball.

Another funky looking move is the caterpillar. Hold the ball in one hand and in your fingertips so that fingers are on top of the ball, and thumb is below. Keep the ball dead still and bend your fingersso that your palm comes towards the ball. Now keep your palm still and straighten your fingers to push the ball away from your palm. repeat as desired. is a cool way of moving the ball from side to side

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.Water can flow, or it can Crash.Be Water My Friend.

Posted:4th May 2005enigmas sure are easier to explain in person when able to show what you mean...

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.Water can flow, or it can Crash.Be Water My Friend.

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.Water can flow, or it can Crash.Be Water My Friend.

This thing about running the ball around your body from the cradle instead of the palm of your hand - am still finding it much much easier to run it from the palm. Bear in mind, I have no muscles and suchlike to get in the way

So... should I keep trying to get the cradle, or is it ok to roll with the palm?!

Posted:11th May 2005One thing with CJ - which is very irritating - is that it really pays off to learn things the hard way... You'll (hopefully) find that once you've nailed back-arm chest-rolls, forearm rolls will be a piece of proverbial

Posted:11th May 2005watch Durbs' falmouth video. In that I do a chest roll, one from cradle followed by one starting from the palm.

While either is completely acceptable, I prefer the back arm chest roll. It just feels more natural to me.

CJing snice falmouth, and already trying chest rolls? I'm impressed!!If you're having difficulty with the back-arm start, try learning to roll the ball along the back of your forearm and then when the ball gets to your elbow, let it roll off and catch it in your cradle (opposite hand). nail this and then see how far up your arm you get the ball to go before it falls off. instead of starting the chestroll off in wall plane like the back forearm rolls are, try starting it off with your arm in front of you, diagonally(ish) in between wall and wheel plane, and have your arms higher up, with your hands at near enough shoulder height. this will help the ball move slower.

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.Water can flow, or it can Crash.Be Water My Friend.

It took me ages to get my left hand to do anything, and it's still not perfect. Have you tried transfers between your two hands?

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.Water can flow, or it can Crash.Be Water My Friend.

Posted:12th May 2005yup, dave was teachin me last sunday. im gradually but very slowly getting it. ive had alot of homework of recent, and by the time its done im too tired (just bout to go to bed now)

hopefully i shall find time to practice them soon,

cheers, pete

"you know there are no trophys for doing silly things in real life yeah pete?" said ant "you wont get a 'listened to ride of the valkyries all the way to vietnam' trophy"

*proud owner of the very cute fire_spinning_angel, birgit and neon shaolin*

There's no me at 2:39, but do you mean the move I start to do at 3:39?

That's my 'most requested by non juggling types' enigma variation. instead of just pulling the hands in/out, I go up/down. It's still going on the whole 'finger/thumb' element as the enigma you learnt at clapham, just with a different direction. then I just change the position of my hands, so that if I want to I can make the ball travel from side to side as well.

The other 'most requested trick' is the 'magnetic hand/ball-on-a-string' trick. Coming up in a video featuring myself and Pyrowill, soon to be released. Gonna have some good stuff in there, including reverse butterfly, neck roll, lots of chest rolls (my favourite move), some iso's along with various other bits and pieces. check it out when it's up!!

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.Water can flow, or it can Crash.Be Water My Friend.

Posted:19th May 2005Actually, In 2bags' falmouth video, at 1:51 into the veideo, I do the same enigma move as in durbs' video. 2bags' video has it from a top view, i.e. your perspective...

Might help

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.Water can flow, or it can Crash.Be Water My Friend.

It looks like there's gonna be some amazing footage of the best contact jugglers around on it. So much potential for 'move-yoinking'

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.Water can flow, or it can Crash.Be Water My Friend.